Ghosn to no longer be chairman of AvtoVAZ

Ghosn will no longer be the chairman for Lada carmaker AvtoVAZ according to Renault-Nissan, showing recent tensions in terms of restructuring during a difficult time for Russia in terms of auto business.

The Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, 62, will be replaced by Sergei Skvortsov who is a senior executive at the Russian state-owned Rostec. The carmaking alliance stated that Skvortsov will be appointed starting the 23rd of June. It added that Ghosn and Rostec’s CEO, Sergei Chemezov, “will continue to play an active role in AvtoVAZ’s strategy.”

These changes are taking place after Bo Andersson, who was chosen by Ghosn in 2014 to help the Russian automaker turn around, was ousted and replaced this April by Nicolas Maure, former head of Renault’s Dacia division in Romania. Andersson left the company after Chemezov – a close ally of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, criticized the CEO of AvtoVAZ because of many layoffs at the carmaker and also local suppliers having been dropped or pushed to restructure. As head of Russian state corporation Rostec, Chemezov could show his influence over AvtoVAZ.

The economic crisis has affected Lada’s hometown Togliatti where hundreds of thousands of people’s lives depend on the carmaker and its suppliers. Because of internation sanctions, a decrease in the ruble’s value and in oil revenues, the carmarket in Russia went down by almost 50% in the past four years and is predicted to go even lower in 2016.

Ghosn will be the chairman of Alliance Rostec Auto BV, company controlled by Renault-Nissan which holds a majority of AvtoVAZ.